What 'precocious puberty' means and how a 5-year-old became the world's youngest mother
This story is truly a medical marvel -- one that is surely hard to believe.
Back in 1939, a girl named Lina Medina gave birth to a healthy baby boy. The only note-worthy detail in this was the girl's age: she was only five-years-old.
This story is truly a medical marvel -- one that is surely hard to believe.
Lina lived in a small Peruvian village located 7,400 feet up in the mountains -- the nation's poorest region.
The girl's parents initially thought their daughter was suffering from a massive abdominal tumour, but after being examined by doctors in Pisco, Peru, they discovered she was eight-months pregnant.
Medina's condition certainly came as a surprise to everybody who studied the case, but among pediatric endocrinologists, it wasn't entirely unthinkable.
About one in every 10,000 children develop a condition known as precocious puberty and Medina was one of those kids.
What is precocious puberty?
Puberty that begins before age 8 in girls and before age 9 in boys is considered precocious puberty.
Roughly ten times more girls than boys develop this way, and there is a reason to suspect that it might be accelerated by sexual contact at an early age. Puberty includes rapid growth of bones and muscles, changes in body shape and size, and development of the body's ability to reproduce.
The cause of precocious puberty often can't be found. Rarely, certain conditions, such as infections, hormone disorders, tumours, brain abnormalities or injuries, may cause precocious puberty.
No publicity
Throughout the years, many people have called her story a complete hoax, however, X-rays, photos, and doctors' documentation are proof that this really did happen. The identity of the kid's father, however, was never determined.
Delivery was by caesarean section because her slim frame was still not adequate in terms of passing a full-sized child through the birth canal.
Many news organisations and newspapers offered large sums of money for the rights to interview and to film the girl but were turned down.
Aside from her record-breaking status as a mother, Medina went on to live an ordinary life in Peru.
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